Hello: This is a wonderful website and has already been a great help in my research. I hope there's more.
I'm writing a book about my grandfather who served as a YMCA secretary during WWI in Russia. He passed at least twice through Beloostrova, once in early October, 1918 and then again in March and April, 1919. I am looking for good descriptions of that border crossing at that time. For example, I have read that there was a bridge that crossed a small stream that represented the border between Finland and Russia. I've also read that this was once a railway bridge and that in 1918, although the rails had been torn up, the ties remained on the bridge. I've read that during the "Red Terror" of the summer of 1918, both the Bolsheviks and the new "White" Finn governments erected locked iron gates at each end of the bridge. I've found a rough drawing of the train station but wouldlike to know a lot more about what the place looked like and how it functioned on both sides of the border. I am interested in as much written and visual detail as possible (although the written material will need to be in English as that's all I can read; the limitations of an American education). Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.